Sapphire Ring Seals Royal Engagement

RAPAPORT… The UK’s Princess Eugenie is sporting a rare sapphire and diamond engagement
ring after a proposal from her boyfriend of seven years, Jack Brooksbank.

Eugenie’s fiancé bought the ring, featuring a
pink-orange padparadscha sapphire stone, from a jeweler, he said. Brooksbank proposed
without the ring; he and Eugenie later added the surrounding diamonds to create the final piece. He chose the sapphire because it “changes color from
every different angle you look at it,” which, he said, reminded him of Eugenie.

Padparadscha stones, the rarest of all sapphires, generally originate in Sri Lanka. The ring is similar in style to the engagement
ring that her mother, Sarah, Duchess of York, received from Eugenie’s father, Prince Andrew. That piece comprised a red ruby surrounded by diamonds.

Brooksbank proposed to Eugenie — whom he met while both were
skiing in the Swiss resort of Verbier — on the side of a volcano in
Nicaragua, as the sun was setting.

Eugenie, a director at the Hauser & Wirth art gallery in
London, and Brooksbank, the UK brand ambassador of Casamigos Tequila, will wed
in autumn 2018 at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.

Image: The Duke of York/Twitter